Braves Sign John Brebbia To Minor League Deal
The Braves have signed right-hander John Brebbia to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Triple-A Gwinnett and will give Atlanta some veteran non-roster depth.
Brebbia, 35, was just released by the Tigers last week. Detroit had signed him in the offseason to a one-year deal with a $2.75MM guarantee. Around an injured list stint for a triceps strain, he gave them 18 2/3 innings with a 7.71 earned run average. There was some bad luck in there, with his .339 batting average on balls in play and 56.6% strand rate both to the unfortunate side, but he also had a subpar 11.8% walk rate and middling 21.5% strikeout rate.
That performance prompted Detroit to move on but Atlanta has snatched him up, as they did almost a year ago. Brebbia was released by the White Sox in August of last year, after posting a 6.29 ERA for that club, and wound up on Atlanta’s roster for most of September. He had a solid enough 2.70 ERA, though in a small sample of 6 2/3 innings. He hit free agency after that and signed his aforementioned deal with the Tigers.
Though the past two seasons have been challenging, Brebbia has a lengthy track record of being an effective big league reliever. From 2017 to 2023, he logged 299 2/3 innings for the Cardinals and Giants with a 3.42 ERA, 25.5% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate. He earned two saves and 47 holds in that time. Even with his ERA spike last year, he still had strong strikeout and walk rates of 27.7% and 7.9%.
Atlanta’s bullpen has been middling this year. The relief corps as a whole has a 3.70 ERA, which puts them 14th in the majors. Joe Jiménez and Daysbel Hernández are each currently on the injured list. There’s no real risk on a minor league deal so signing Brebbia is a sensible addition.
Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images
Corbin Carroll Placed On IL With Wrist Fracture
June 24: The Diamondbacks officially placed Carroll on the IL, retroactive to June 21st, and recalled McCarthy today.
June 23: Corbin Carroll has been diagnosed with a “chip fracture” in his left wrist, manager Torey Lovullo told D-Backs’ postgame host Todd Walsh (h/t to Jody Jackson). It’s unclear how long he’ll be out of action or whether there’s any consideration of surgery. Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic had reported shortly before Lovullo’s announcement that the D-Backs would place Carroll on the injured list tomorrow. According to Piecoro, Jake McCarthy will be recalled from Triple-A Reno to take his spot on the roster.
It’s the latest hit to an Arizona team that has been battered by injuries. In this month alone, they’ve lost Corbin Burnes and top relievers A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez to season-ending elbow surgeries. Starting catcher Gabriel Moreno went down with a broken index finger last week. They’ll now be without one of their top two hitters for what seems likely to be at least a few weeks.
Carroll was injured during last Wednesday’s loss to the Blue Jays. Toronto reliever Justin Bruihl hit him on the left wrist with a 91 MPH sinker. The D-Backs lifted him for a defensive replacement in the following half-inning. Carroll hasn’t played since and wasn’t recovering as well as hoped. The Snakes sent him for an MRI that revealed the bone break. It’s unfortunately similar to the situation that played out with Moreno, who initially continued to play after a first round of x-rays didn’t catch the hairline fracture in his finger.
The 24-year-old Carroll has had a fantastic season, hitting .255/.341/.573 with 20 homers in 72 games. He got out to a blistering start, cooled a bit in May, and had rebounded to reel off nine extra-base hits in 13 games this month. Carroll has been a fixture in the top two spots in Lovullo’s batting order all season. They’ve bumped Geraldo Perdomo to the leadoff spot, at least against right-handed pitching, in his absence. Randal Grichuk has drawn into the lineup as the right fielder.
Grichuk is a solid role player but obviously isn’t going to come close to replacing Carroll’s production. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that the Diamondbacks still have a strong nucleus. A lineup including Ketel Marte, Eugenio Suárez, Josh Naylor, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Perdomo should remain capable of scoring runs. They need an elite offense to compensate for the struggles of the injury-riddled pitching staff, though, and that’s much more difficult without Carroll at the top.
Arizona bludgeoned the White Sox for a 10-0 victory tonight. That brought them to 40-38 on the season. They’re in fourth place in the NL West but are just 2.5 games out of the final Wild Card spot. Few teams have more at stake over the next five weeks as they hope to remain in position to add at the deadline.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Steve Adams
- Good morning! I’ll get going at 1pm, but feel free to send in questions sooner than that if you like.
- Greetings!
- Let’s get underway
Oz
- I don’t see any chance that the Braves can overtake 5 clubs currently ahead of them in the standings to qualify for the postseason, especially in view of the injury to Chris Sale. If they decide to be sellers at the trade deadline, who are their most marketable assets?
Steve Adams
- Marcell Ozuna, Aaron Bummer, Pierce Johnson. Raisel Iglesias if he gets right between now and July 31. President Alex Anthopoulos sure doesn’t sound like someone who’s keen on a mass sell-off, so even trading Johnson and Bummer with their affordable options might be deemed a bridge too far, but reliever performance is volatile and teams overpay for bullpen help every deadline.
Nolan Arenado
- Will Yanks, Astros, LAD, or Mets be interested in pursuing me this trade deadline? My defense is still superb, and while I had a down May, my April and June have OPS+’s of over 110
Steve Adams
- Astros won’t go over the CBT. Yankees, Mets and Dodgers would pay a 110% tax on Arenado’s continued offensive decline. He’s just not worth his current contract — especially not for a top luxury offender — and he has the full no-trade to boot.
- He’s not even an upgrade in L.A. over Muncy (raking since late April) or Paredes (great all year). Suppose you could play Paredes at 2B, but again, owner Jim Crane doesn’t want to cross the CBT line
Artie moreno
- Will we see Kyren Paris again this year. What does he need to do
Steve Adams
-
- Paris had a crazy start to the season but had terrible contact rates even when he was hot. It never felt sustainable. His contact rate since being sent to AAA is better than it was in the majors with the Angels but also worse than it was in AAA last year. I just don’t think he has the hit tool to be a big league regular, even though the power/speed combo is obviously tantalizing
Mets Reinstate Frankie Montas, Transfer Jesse Winker To 60-Day IL
The Mets announced that right-hander Frankie Montas has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. Right-hander Chris Devenski was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse as the corresponding active roster move. He has enough service time where he can’t be optioned without his consent, so he has presumably agreed to be sent down. To open a 40-man spot for Montas, outfielder/designated hitter Jesse Winker has been transferred to the 60-day IL.
Montas, 32, will be making his debut as a Met when he starts tonight’s game. At the moment, it’s difficult to guess what sort of quality of performance he’ll be able to provide. He was diagnosed with a lat strain back in mid-February. He started a rehab assignment in late May but hasn’t looked sharp, allowing 25 earned runs in 18 2/3 innings over six minor league starts.
Teams generally care more about health than results on a rehab assignment but a 12.05 earned run average is going to cause some concern. It would be one thing if Montas started rough and had been getting sharper but that hasn’t been the case. He surrendered five earned runs in five innings in his most recent outing, with just two strikeouts. The prior outing had seen him allow eight earned runs without getting out of the second inning.
Even before this year, there were question marks with Montas. He had missed almost all of 2023 due to shoulder surgery. Back on the mound in 2024, his 4.84 ERA wasn’t strong. The Mets seemed to be banking on his late-season strikeout surge. He had struck out just 19% of batters faced with the Reds but then 28.7% of opponents following a trade to the Brewers. He then headed into free agency and secured a two-year, $34MM deal from the Mets, with equal salaries of $17MM and an opt-out halfway through.
That was a notable investment in a pitcher who hadn’t been at his best in a few years. The Mets are also paying a 110% tax on spending beyond the top competitive balance tax threshold this year, making it an even more significant expenditure which they have yet to receive any return on.
Despite that cash outlay, the righty’s recent struggles on his rehab assignment almost pushed him to the bullpen. However, the club’s rotation picture changed quickly in recent weeks. Not too long ago, it seemed the club had so much rotation depth that a Paul Blackburn trade was reportedly considered. But then both Kodai Senga and Tylor Megill hit the injured list in the span of a few days, opening rotation space for both Blackburn and Montas alongside David Peterson, Clay Holmes and Griffin Canning.
If everyone is healthy, another squeeze could be just over the horizon. Sean Manaea is also on the IL and just a bit behind Montas in his rehab process. He recently made his fourth rehab appearance, getting to 62 pitches over 5 1/3 innings. Montas is getting a rotation spot for now due to the club’s need and the fact that his 30-day rehab window was closing but there will be pressure on him to perform in order to keep that spot.
As for Winker, he landed on the IL on May 5th due to a right oblique strain. His 60-day count is retroactive to that initial IL placement, so he’ll be eligible for reinstatement in early July. He was initially given a recovery timeline of six to eight weeks but the Mets recently said that he is still multiple weeks away from starting a rehab assignment.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
A’s Release Dylan Floro
The A’s have released veteran right-handed reliever Dylan Floro, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. He’d been pitching with the Athletics’ Triple-A club in Las Vegas but is now back on the open market.
Floro, 34, has an ugly-looking 7.04 ERA in 15 1/3 innings with the top A’s affiliate, but that number is skewed by one nightmare outing where the Dodgers’ Triple-A club pummeled him for five runs without recording an out. That outing accounts for 42% of his runs allowed in 16 appearances. Floro’s 17.1% strikeout rate in Triple-A is clearly well below-average, but he’s still showing good command (7.1% walk rate).
There are red flags beyond the one poor outing. Floro’s 88.2 mph average fastball velocity is down from last year’s 89.4 mph mark and down considerably from the 92.4 mph he averaged in 2022-23. He’s also made a career out of inducing weak contact but has yielded a blazing 94.7 mph average exit velocity and surrendered a 60.4% hard-hit rate. Those are both alarming trends for the well-traveled righty.
Concerning as those numbers are, Floro has a nice track record in the majors, with a 3.49 ERA, 20.8% strikeout rate, 7.2% walk rate, 50.6% grounder rate, 32 saves and 53 holds in parts of nine MLB seasons. He posted a 3.80 ERA with a 17.2% strikeout rate and 6.1% walk rate in a combined 68 2/3 big league frames between the Nationals and D-backs last year, although his 2024 campaign was a tale of two seasons; Floro posted a 2.06 ERA in 52 1/3 innings with the Nats before being clobbered for a 9.37 ERA in 16 1/3 innings with Arizona.
The Opener: Burns, Simpson, MLBTR Chat
Here are three things for MLBTR readers to keep an eye on throughout the day:
1. Chase Burns to make MLB debut:
It’s a big day for fans of the Reds, as top pitching prospect and second overall pick in last year’s draft Chase Burns is set to make his major league debut today. He’ll take the mound at Great American Ball Park against Yankees southpaw Carlos Rodon (3.10 ERA) in a game scheduled for 7:10pm local time. Burns has been sensational through 13 starts across three levels of the minors this year, combining for a 1.77 ERA and 36.8% strikeout rate in 66 innings. Even when zeroing in on just his two starts at Triple-A, Burns has been quite impressive with a 2.19 ERA and 30.4% strikeout rate in 12 1/3 innings of work. His rapid ascent through the minors and dominance at every level has made it clear he’s ready for the challenge of the big leagues, though the Yankees are a tough first assignment given that they lead the AL in runs scored and wRC+.
2. Simpson to return:
One of the sport’s fastest players is headed back to the majors. As noted by Adam Berry of MLB.com, the Rays are poised to recall Chandler Simpson from the minors today to take over center field duties from the recently-optioned Kameron Misner. Simpson stole a whopping 19 bases in just 35 games (22 attempts) and batted .285/.315/.317 (85 wRC+) during his first stint in the majors earlier this year. In conjunction with some lackluster defense in center field, that lack of power and paltry 4.5% walk rate resulted in Simpson returning to the minors at the beginning of June. Since then, he’s hit a robust .366/.416/.465 at the Triple-A level. He’ll get another opportunity as the Rays face the Royals at Kauffman Stadium tonight, where he’ll be tested by southpaw Kris Bubic (2.12 ERA).
3. MLBTR Chat today:
With just over a month to go until the July 31 trade deadline, chatter about trade season has already begun in earnest. While it will be difficult for another in-season blockbuster to top the Devers deal from earlier this month, a handful of smaller deals have started to come together around the league as well. Whether you’re looking ahead to the deadline or still trying to sort between the contenders and pretenders, MLBTR’s Steve Adams has you covered in a live chat scheduled for 1pm CT today. You can click here to ask a question in advance, join in live once the chat begins, or read the transcript once the chat is complete.
Trade Deadline Outlook: Philadelphia Phillies
MLBTR's team-by-team look at the upcoming deadline continues with the Phillies. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has never been afraid to take swings, and this year figures to be no exception as they battle the Mets for control of the NL East.
Record: 47-31 (90.7% playoff probability, per FanGraphs)
Buy Mode
Potential needs: Late-inning relief, corner outfield, center field, second base
Philadelphia has fewer holes than most teams do. They're the rare club that probably feels good about their rotation depth. They've stacked much of the everyday lineup with star players, most of whom are performing up to expectations. The top priority is a familiar one for the fanbase and front office: stabilizing the back of the bullpen.
Jordan Romano, Orion Kerkering and Matt Strahm are their top in-house options at the back end. Strahm is consistently effective but not a prototypical power arm. Romano's first season in Philly has been up-and-down. Kerkering has high-octane stuff and has gotten excellent results since the start of May, but he's always at risk of losing the strike zone. Rookies Mick Abel and Andrew Painter are starting pitching prospects but might make a greater impact this year in the late innings. Still, that's a lot of onus to put on young pitchers.
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Twins Have Exercised Rocco Baldelli’s 2026 Option
Rocco Baldelli is in his seventh season as Minnesota’s manager. It was unclear whether his deal ran beyond this season, but the 43-year-old skipper is apparently signed for another year. Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports that the Twins have exercised their 2026 club option on Baldelli, though it’s unclear when they did so.
Minnesota did not make any kind of formal announcement at the time. Many teams do not publicly reveal the length of the contracts for their non-playing personnel, so that’s not a huge surprise. Baldelli being under contract for next season doesn’t mean the Twins couldn’t make a change before then. Still, president of baseball operations Derek Falvey has been steadfast in his support for his longtime manager throughout their tenures in the Twin Cities.
Falvey again expressed confidence in Baldelli’s leadership today, ruling out the possibility of making a change at the moment. “It’s just making sure no one runs away from the work that is right in front of him, and Rocco is not running away from any of the work. … We’re all side by side with him, as is the staff and as our core players,” Falvey told Hayes. “We’re trying to figure it out together.”
The Twins have made the postseason in three of Baldelli’s six full seasons. They won the AL Central in each of 2019, ’20 and ’23 but only won one playoff series in that time. They’re 3-8 in the postseason since Baldelli was hired. They looked on track for another playoff berth late last season, peaking at 17 games above .500 in the middle of August. They collapsed to a 12-27 finish over the final six weeks, ultimately landing at 82-80 and on the outside looking in.
That dreadful run carried into this April, as the Twins won only seven of their first 22 games. They picked things up in the second half of the month and ripped off a 13-game win streak — which remains easily the longest by any team this year — in the middle of May. They climbed as high as seven games over .500 earlier this month, but June has been a disaster.
Injuries to Pablo López and Zebby Matthews have dealt a huge hit to the rotation, and none of their starters have pitched well in recent weeks. The bullpen has been even worse, allowing more than seven earned runs per nine innings this month. They entered play tonight with an MLB-worst 6.59 ERA overall in June. That’ll climb even more after Bailey Ober and Joey Wentz were torched for 11 runs by the Mariners tonight. They just wrapped up a defeat that drops them to 37-41 on the season. They have lost 14 of their last 18 games.
Blue Jays Release Erik Swanson
The Blue Jays have released reliever Erik Swanson, reports MLBTR’s Steve Adams. Toronto designated him for assignment last Tuesday. Swanson has already gone unclaimed on waivers and is a free agent.
Swanson spent two-plus seasons with the Jays. Acquired from the Mariners in the Teoscar Hernández trade, the righty had an excellent first season north of the border. Swanson turned in a 2.97 ERA while leading the team with 29 holds across 66 2/3 innings in 2023. That followed a sterling 1.68 ERA showing in his final season with Seattle. He hasn’t maintained that production over the past couple seasons, at least in part due to injury.
The 31-year-old Swanson missed a couple weeks early last season with forearm inflammation. He wasn’t effective when he returned and spent a couple months on optional assignment to Triple-A Buffalo. He looked to be trending towards a non-tender until finding some positive momentum in the second half. Swanson was recalled not long after the All-Star Break and managed a 2.55 ERA with a .172 opponent batting average down the stretch.
Toronto retained Swanson on a $3MM arbitration salary. That would’ve been a bargain if he repeated his second half numbers. Injuries again intervened. Swanson missed the first two months battling a nerve issue in his throwing arm. He was activated on June 1 but allowed runs in four of his six appearances, including three-plus runs in each of his final two outings. His average fastball speed has dropped a tick to 92.9 MPH and he has given up nine runs with five walks and three strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings.
The Jays will remain on the hook for the rest of Swanson’s salary. He wouldn’t cost a new team anything other than a roster spot. They’d pay only the prorated portion of the $760K league minimum for any time he spends on the MLB roster, which would be subtracted from Toronto’s responsibility. His 2022-23 production will at least generate interest on minor league offers, and it wouldn’t be a complete surprise if another team is willing to plug him directly into the MLB bullpen for the league minimum.
Tyler Nevin Signs Two-Year Extension With NPB’s Seibu Lions
The Seibu Lions of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball announced that they have signed infielder Tyler Nevin to a two-year extension beginning in 2026. Salary figures were not included. “I’d like to express my sincere gratitude to my teammates, staff, and fans who have trusted me and supported me since the day I arrived in Japan,” Nevin said in a Japanese statement relayed by the team, per Google Translate. “I will strive to make the rest of the season even better and focus on the game in front of me. I can’t wait for the next two years. Awesome!”
Nevin, 28, signed with the Lions in January. His Japanese career has gotten out to a solid start through his first 68 games. His .269/.330/.379 batting line may not be overwhelming in a vacuum but actually translates to a 120 wRC+ in NPB this year. It seems that the club has been pleased enough with that performance to lock him up.
Considering the way Nevin’s career went before this year, it’s understandable that he would agree to be locked up. Broadly speaking, he had always hit in the minors but failed to do so in the majors. From 2022 to 2024, he stepped to the plate 639 times at the Triple-A level. He hit 26 home runs and drew walks at a 10.2% clip while only striking out 17.5% of the time. He had a combined batting line of .313/.391/.536 and a 137 wRC+.
That minor league performance got him a few major league looks from the Orioles, Tigers and Athletics, but he wasn’t able to do much with those chances. He got 591 big league plate appearances over the past few years with a .204/.299/.315 line and 81 wRC+. He exhausted his final option year in 2023, which put him into a fringe roster status. He spent 2024 bouncing on and off the Athletics’ roster, clearing waivers multiple times throughout the year. Finding regular playing time in the big leagues would have been difficult going forward.
Rather than spend another year grinding through the roster bubble lifestyle, he accepted a chance to head overseas and perhaps find some stability. Given that he’s having a decent year, he could have tried to parlay that into a return to North America in 2026. But there would have been no guarantee of that working out, so it’s easy to see the logic in him sticking with the Lions for another few years.
Though the salary figures haven’t been reported for this deal, North American players getting regular work in Japan often get paid in the vicinity of $1MM annually. That’s more than players in the minors in North America get and even more than pre-arbitration major leaguers. Whatever his salary is, Nevin will get a bit of cash and some job security for his age-29 and age-30 seasons. If he can make the most of that regular role, he could perhaps try to return to affiliated ball a few years from now or secure himself another deal to continue playing in Asia.
Photo courtesy of Darren Yamashita, Imagn Images